Alan Gowans (November 30, 1923 – August 19, 2001) was an art historian and university academic, educated at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

. A charismatic teacher and prolific author, his academic specialty was North American architecture, frequently highlighting such unheralded structures as gas stations, restaurants, motels, bungalows and mail-order homes, and exploring their social, cultural and national significance. Perhaps his most influential work was ''Images of American Living''. A partial list of the teaching and research institutions at which Gowans held teaching positions includes: Rutgers University, Middlebury College, Harvard University, University of Edinburgh, Stockholm University and Uppsala University. A former president of the

Society of Architectural Historians The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) is an international not-for-profit organization that promotes the study and preservation of the built environment worldwide. Based in Chicago in the United States, the Society's 3,500 members include ...

, he served as chairman of the art history department at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

and as founding chairman of the Department of History in Art at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. From Victoria, he spearheaded an international and cross-cultural approach to the history of art, bringing notable scholars such as

Siri Gunasinghe Siri Gunasinghe ( Sinhala: සිරි ගුණසිංහ ; 18 February 1925 – 25 May 2017) was a Sri Lankan academic, poet, Sanskritist, art historian, author and filmmaker. He played a crucial role in honing the creativity of free Sinhal ...

to the new university, and guest lecturers as varied as

Immanuel Velikovsky Immanuel Velikovsky (; rus, Иммануи́л Велико́вский, p=ɪmənʊˈil vʲɪlʲɪˈkofskʲɪj; 17 November 1979) was a Jewish, Russian-American psychoanalyst, writer, and catastrophist. He is the author of several books offering ...

Boris Piotrovsky Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky (russian: Бори́с Бори́сович Пиотро́вский; also written Piotrovskii; – October 15, 1990) was a Soviet Russian academician, historian- orientalist and archaeologist who studied the ancient ci ...

and Hans Wolfgang Müller. In 1988 he settled in Washington DC, archiving an extensive personal collection of architectural photographs, a unique resource now held in th
CASVA
archives containing over 10,000 images of vernacular architecture. Gowans acted as a consultant for the

Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary film, documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle United States, American History of the United States, history and Culture of the ...

Lynn Novick Lynn Novick is an American director and producer of documentary films, widely known for her work with Ken Burns. Early life Novick was born in 1962, raised in New York City, and graduated from Horace Mann School in 1979. She graduated magna cum l ...

Film

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

(1998).Adam Bernstein, "Architecture Historian Alan Gowans Dies at 77," ''The Washington Post'', August 21, 2001. He continued to live a scholar's life until his death in 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gowans, Alan 1923 births 2001 deaths Canadian art historians Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian expatriates in the United States University of Toronto alumni Princeton University alumni Canadian expatriates in England Canadian expatriates in Sweden